The Lost Boy In The Shadows
by the walking shadow
Summary: Elliot was a lost boy walking around on his own detached from people sticking to the shadows until he stumbles upon Rick's group could they help him back into the light?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N Hi this is my first ever fanfic I've created I want to thank Fallen Angle Awakened for being a Beta for my work.**

 **I hope you enjoy feel free to review it so I know how to improve**

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Chapter 1 The Day He Found Some Light

Elliot was in the woods, hunting for something to eat, when he heard a noise he never thought he would hear: a massive explosion. As the ground rumbled beneath his feet, he thought to himself, "Shit! What the hell was that?!" He decided to make a bold move, abandon his daily hunt and head in the direction of the noise.

After five minutes of running, Elliott saw walkers and heard screaming. He decided he had to deal with the walkers before he could do anything else. He pulled out his prized weapon-a katana that his sensei had given him four years prior-and made quick work of the ten walkers that he saw. Once finished with the walkers, Elliot sheathed his sword and looked down at himself. The walker blood didn't show up on his black clothing, but the horrible smell assaulted his nostrils all the same.

He looked like a psychotic mess, adrenaline rushing through his system. Another scream pierced the air, and Elliot began making his way towards the sound. Moments later, he emerged from the forest and caught sight of a massive prison, bodies everywhere. It looked like a massacre from a horror film, and the fighting was still happening. He found the closest tree, sheathed his katana, and decided to try and climb it which proved difficult due to his physical disability. While climbing, he gritted his teeth and through, "The joys of having Cerebral Palsy."

Once Elliott reached what he thought was a decent height, he could see what was happening. His first thought was "shit, I'm glad I'm not a part of that fight." At first, he thought it was just walkers against humans, but boy was he wrong; it was a massive battle between two groups of survivors. The scene reminded him of why he stuck to the shadows, and after the start of this apocalypse two years ago, he had trust issues.

Elliott unsheathed his katana and read the engraving at its hilt for the thousandth time. The engraving was the creed he lived by for the ones he trusted and cared about: "when the need is required my sword is your shield". He currently had nobody he cared about. His parents had died in the early days of the apocalypse, but he suppressed the memory day after day, as he always blamed himself for their death. And as far as he knew, the rest of his family was dead in England.

Elliot returned to reality and heard lots of gunfire. He could see people struggling to fight back the huge herd of walkers that were approaching he spoke to himself in his southern English accent, "I guess I wasn't the only one who heard the dinner bell." only then did he see what said dinner bell was: a massive tank.

Elliot squinted his eyes and could just barely make out a figure throwing something into the barrel of the tank, then another massive BANG shook the ground. Flames erupted from the hatch at the top of the tank and the war vehicle was history.

Elliot knew he couldn't help in the fight; all he could do was watch from his tree, seeing the people killing each other. Before he knew it, there was a massive amount of human bodies as well as walkers, maybe fifty more twice dead corpses than when he first showed up. Movement off to his right made Elliot turn his head; he made out four figures: a person with long hair and a crossbow, a black woman with a sword similar to his own, a badly wounded older guy with a beard, and last but not least, he saw a boy whose face was hidden by a sheriff's hat.

After observing the figures escape the now broken prison, Elliott decided to follow them and see what they were like but he would always stick to the shadows. Slowly climbing down from the tree, he caught sight of figures in the distance. To catch up, Eliot decided to run a bit.

Once he got close enough to make out faces could only see three of the four people. He slowed down a bit, making sure to keep a safe distance, and suddenly heard a twig snap behind him. Elliot slowly turned around, coming face to face with a crossbow.

The man holding the crossbow drawled in a thick Southern accent, "Drop your weapons." Elliot did as the man asked, and laid his katana and his father's prized Glock 17 handgun on the ground. "You got a name kid?" The man kept the crossbow trained on Elliott, who stood still with his hands raised in surrender.

Elliot quickly responded, "My name is Elliot."  
All he got back was a nod and the man spoke roughly "You with the governor, Elliot?"  
The scared teenager quickly responded, "Who? What governor? I've been alone since the start I don't know who you're talking about."

The man eyed the kid up and down. He looked to be telling the truth, so he lowered his crossbow, began walking away and said, "follow me kid. I'm Daryl."

Elliott picked up his weapons and followed Daryl into a small clearing where the three others were. Daryl said to the others "I just found this kid following us. Says he never heard of the governor and has been alone since the start."

Without thinking, Elliot quickly spoke up, "nice to meet you all I'm Elliot, I'm 17, and I'm from England." The bearded man looked at him and whined in pain but managed to say "why're you so far from home Elliot? Elliot said back displaying his katana "I was at a world-wide martial arts tournament when the dead started walking, sir."

The bearded man studied him and said, "Names Rick" he pointed to the black swordswoman "that's Michonne", he then pointed to the boy in the Sherriff hat "that's my son, Carl."  
Carl looked into Elliot's vibrant green eyes with his piercing blue eyes and said, "nice to meet you, but my dad's got a few more questions before anything else."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N Hi people sorry this took so long to update but was busy with college work and the holidays. Also thanks to Fallen Angle Awakened for being a beta again and I hope everyone has had a good start to 2016 and thank you so much for the reviews it makes writing this worth while.**

 **Anyway onto the story**

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Chapter 2 Too Many Questions Soo Little Time

Rick looked to Elliot and sternly told him, "These next few questions will determine if you can come with us understand?"

Elliot stuttered saying, "Yes, I understand."

Rick, pressing a hand to his wounded ribcage, said, "Good. How many walkers have you killed?"

Elliot looked deep in thought before responding, "I don't know the exact amount. Too many."

Accepting this answer, Rick nodded and coughed before continuing. "How many people have you killed?"

Elliot thought, _"Damn, these are weird questions"_ but responded to Rick sighing "two people".

Rick believed the teenager, and said, "Why?"

Elliot's green eyes sprung open in shock but quickly responded "Because they tried to kill me. Believe me, it was a last resort."

Rick and Daryl both stared at the boy to see if he was lying, but didn't recognize any signs that he wasn't being truthful. They nodded to each other, then Rick gestured with his hand for Elliot to sit. Ricks stopped, the boy just as he is about to sit down and says worriedly "You're limping. Were you hurt or bitten?"

Elliot calmly looked into his eyes and responded "No, Rick, it's nothing like that. I have a condition called Cerebral Palsy."

Rick then asked, intrigued by what the teenager said, "How exactly does the disability affect you? If you don't mind me asking."

Elliot looked at Rick like he has explained it for what was probably the thousandth time. "It's no problem at all, it affects-"Elliot was suddenly interrupted by the all too familiar moans and groans of walkers wanting to eat them, and everyone was quick to raise their weapons.

After Elliot took a second to count them he saw five in total and said to Rick and Daryl, "Let me prove that I can still fight."

Slowly, Daryl lowered his crossbow and Michonne lowered her Katana. Daryl said, "Do your thing kid. Impress me."

Taking that as the go ahead, Elliot unsheathed his Katana and mentally prepared his route through the walkers and got to work. He decapitated the first two with ease. He accidentally put too much force into the third walker-not realizing how soft the skull was-causing him to lose his balance and slip. Noticing the other two walker stumbling towards Elliot, Carl aimed his gun with finger ready on the trigger. As he was about to fire, Elliot recovered from falling and took out the remaining walkers within a couple of seconds.

What Elliot had done had not only made Carl gasp with shock but it also caused Michonne to grin and pat the young swordsman on the shoulder. She led him away slightly for a private talk with the boy. She notified Rick of this with a nod, which has been a silent signal between the two for some time.

After he had finished cleaning the blood from his sword, she said to him, "I know we've asked a lot of questions, but I have a personal one. What's the engraving in the hilt of your sword say?"

Elliot narrowed his eyes and thought to himself "should I show these people?" After a short inner conflict, he decided to pull out the sword to show the swordswoman and her alone.

He said to her, "I'm only showing you out of respect as a fellow swordsman." and passed her his sword.

She mumbled to herself the engraving which read "When the need is required my sword is your shield" she also saw a small E engraved into the bottom of the hilt, but couldn't make out the other letter. Michonne understood the reasons for why the boy had the engraving, but wanted clarification on the matter "I hate to ask, but does this mean the people who you shielded with this are dead?"

Elliot took the sword back and sheathed it, tearfully telling her while the two were still a little out of earshot of the others, "Yes. I've been alone since the beginning. Everyone I knew in this country are dead or I presume they are but please don't tell the others this if I'm allowed to go with you guys, okay?"

After hearing this Michonne was taken aback by just how damaged the boy actually was. She placed a comforting hand on the young swordsman shoulder to help calm his nerves; the same gesture she used to calm Carl down sometimes.

After a moment, she responded, "It will be our secret. I was alone for a while too, until the others found me. I found it hard, I know how you feel. It can drive people insane but remember, I'm always here if you need to talk about anything. I always keep a secret, unless its information that could endanger our group."

The boy was surprised by how much the woman cared about him after just meeting him. He thought to himself, "Why does she care about me so quickly? After all I'm nothing special just an average height, brown haired, green eyed, English teenager."

Elliot was knocked suddenly from his thoughts when Michonne said to him, "Let's get back to the others. You should talk to Carl a bit, I'm sure you two will get along."

Walking the short way through the trees, Elliot said to Michonne, "Thanks." Elliot said quietly, referring to Michonne's promise to keep his secret.

When the two arrived back, Elliot walked over to Carl and sat down next to him. Before he could say a word he heard Rick ask Michonne, "What did you talk about?"

Keeping the deal, which surprised Elliot, he heard her say, "Wanted to know where he got the sword. He's one of us. I trust him."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N Hello again everyone I hope you're all enjoying the story sorry about my weird upload times but college has been throwing assignments at me like mad I'm hoping to upload every 2 weeks or sooner.**

 **Also thanks again to Fallen Angle Awakened for being my beta you're awesome and thanks to everyone reviewing and following it means a lot to me.**

 **Anyway shall we continue with the story**

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Chapter 3 New Friends Old Memories

Carl looked at Elliot with his piercing blue eyes and said to him, "You're obviously skilled with a sword, when did you start?"

Elliot, seeming surprised by the question, looked Carl in the eye and responded, "I started training with swords when I was thirteen so I've been able to use a sword for the past four years, but I started training martial arts when I was nine. Have you ever had any form of martial arts training?"

Carl told the English teenager, "Um… I did karate for about a year and a half when I was ten, but, my mom thought it was unsafe, so I had to quit before I could start sword training, which my dad wanted me to do. I know this is asking a lot, but since Michonne won't teach me how to use a katana, would you?"

Elliot was kind of surprised that Carl asked him to train him because nobody has ever asked for him to teach them before, after thinking about it for a second he responded, "Yeah sure, if you're parents are okay with it." Carl dropped his gaze to the ground when Elliot said 'parents' but quickly said "it's just my dad."

"Oh." Elliot felt bad for mentioning that. Seeing the look on Carl's face, he could tell the death was probably recent. "I'm sorry. I know what it's like to lose the people you love."

Carl looked back up at Elliot, question in his eyes. "How did you lose your family? How did you end up alone?"

Now it was Elliot who looked upset as he responded, "I'm going to tell you the full story from the beginning of how I ended up here."

 _Elliot was just fifteen years old, and one of the best swordsman in his class. He was invited to the nationals and won the tournament, for which the prize was an invitation to the international martial arts tournament of 2010 to compete on behalf England in the under 16 category._

 _Despite the strange news broadcasts of riots and sudden bursts of violence, Elliot's family decided to go to the tournament. After all, it was the chance of a lifetime._

 _Elliot arrived to America with his parents and his prized Katana, which he was only allowed to take after a mountain of paperwork was signed. The tournament was supposed to last three days, and Elliot was under 16 so would be competing on the first and second days, if he qualified through the first day._

 _The first day was going well, he had just won his hand to hand match, and around one pm he would be doing his first round of sword combat, but the first day they were only allowed to use wooden swords, so Elliot's Katana was left in his hotel room._

 _Just as Elliot was about to take the floor to compete in his first match of the day, a few spectators-which everyone assumed to be late-sauntered in, and one bit one of the judges, which shocked everyone and caused a panic. Within minutes, multiple people were biting each other, and there was blood everywhere. Elliot managed to find his parents and told them to return to the hotel room while he tried to fight off the biting people. As Elliot approached the nearest person who was on all fours biting the flesh out of a woman's arm, he realised that the man had a dead look in his eyes. There was no expression on his face as Elliot kicked the man off of the woman and then kicked him in the chest. The kick didn't stun the man, and he just kept coming. Elliot slightly panicked, and attempted to knock the man out by kicking him in the head, which resulted in blood spilling over his toes. That silenced him._

 _After what seemed like forever fighting the monstrosities, and Elliot had counted he killed twenty within a matter of a few minutes. Covered in blood, he turned to leave being what looked like the only non-bitten survivor but was suddenly taken down by a final monster, jaws chomping desperate to get to Elliot's flesh. In a flash of what seemed a second someone had killed the thing. Elliot quickly thanked the stranger after throwing the lifeless beast off of him but the stranger ended up being his sensei._

 _Surprised to see his sensei in America with him Elliot was quickly told to head to his hotel room and grab his actual Katana. On route to the room he was staying in Elliot ended up taking on and ending another five of the people who were trying to bite. The realisation that he had just killed multiple people was slowly creeping into his brain, but he couldn't think about that now. He had to get back to his parents._

 _Once Elliot reached his hotel room his life was turned upside down. Opening the door to the room the teens worst nightmare came true he saw both his parents dead covered in blood with both of them missing a chunk from their arms and bullets in their hearts with the gun left on the bed with a note on the table addressed to him he knew his parents went out on their terms and he hated himself for not protecting them but he read the letter and it said,_

 _"_ _Dear Elliot_

 _By the time you read this we will both be dead. We got bit trying to help someone on our way back. We are so sorry for our stupidity, son, but we both want you to continue to live no matter how tough the times get and we will always be with you watching over you and we are proud of the young man you have become._

 _We only want what is best for you so we decided to commit suicide to save you the pain of having to see us die. If you can, we want you to return to England and to take care of your brother and to keep him safe but if you cannot then please for us don't do anything stupid to get yourself killed. We want you to take the gun and the spare mags left in the under the bed there you will find your sixteenth birthday present we were going to surprise you with it after the tournament but it's yours now and hope you use it as well as you would your sword but do what you can to help people the way we raised you._

 _We love you always and we will always be proud of our little samurai and will always be watching over you._

 _Mum and Dad xx"_

 _After tearfully reading the note and putting it in his pocket he grabbed his Katana and the gun, looking under the bed he found the spare gun mags and his sixteenth birthday present: a brand new top of the range crossbow with his initial's on the side, he then took what he could and sat on the bed opposite his parents, letting the emotions roll over him. He knew that if he supressed his feelings now, he would have a breakdown at the most inconvenient time possible, so it was better to let the tears out now._

 _After a few minutes of staring, Elliot noticed his mother's fingers twitching._

 _"_ _Mum?" He exclaimed, jumping to his feet and kneeling beside her. "Mum, can you hear me?"_

 _All that he got in exchange was a moan, a moan that sounded suspiciously like the ones who were eating people._

 _"_ _Mum?" He said again in a strangled voice, tears falling on the quilt. Suddenly, she lunged, her teeth snapping, trying to grab a bite of his flesh. Elliot screamed as she knocked him to the floor. Instinct kicked in and he grabbed his katana, chopping his dead mother's head off before scuttling back into the wall, shaking and crying harder than before._

 _"_ _I'm sorry." He whispered. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry." He repeated the words to himself until he stopped crying, then forced himself off the floor._

 _"_ _They're dead." He said to himself. "They're dead and you have to destroy their brains." That didn't make any sort of sense, but Elliot had to grasp onto the thought in order to justify what he knew he would have to do. "He's dead. He'll try to kill people." Elliot grabbed his sword again, hands shaking as he walked towards his father. "He's dead. He'll kill people."_

 _After a few deep breaths and a lot of hesitation, Elliot noticed a finger twitch form his dad. His father's eyes opened, milky and vacant._

 _"_ _I'm sorry." He whispered and plunged the blade into his father's head._

 _Elliot wiped his blade on the bedsheets and gathered everything he would need. He sure as hell wouldn't be staying in this room for a second longer than he needed to. Taking one more look at his twice dead parents-that he saw alive and smiling less than an hour prior-he left the hotel and never looked back._

 _He tried to find his sensei, but had no luck so he just left. Out on the road, alone for two years, avoiding people whenever possible; until he stumbled across Rick's group. He was always wondering if his sensei was dead or alive; he would probably never find out._

Carl looked shocked and awkwardly patted Elliot on the shoulder. He broke down after telling the boy everything. From his back pocket Elliot produced the note but Carl asked, "What happened to your crossbow?"

Elliot knew this question would come up, and responded with, "It's at the house I'm staying at. I can take you guys to it if you want."

Carl seemed to think for a moment before calling over to Rick "Dad. Elliot as a place we can go."


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N Hi everyone sorry for taking soo long to write this and that it's short was having some writers block and having college work yay education. Thanks again to Fallen Angle Awakened for being a Beta for my work their work is awesome. I'm in the process of writing the next chapter soo hopefully it will be up by the end of this week and if anyone wants to talk about TWD PM me I love talking about it but i'm in UK.**

 **Anyway enough rambling onto the chapter :)**

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 **Chapter 4 New Home**

After walking for about half an hour, they arrived at a house that seemed abandoned. The group approached the building with caution, constantly scanning for threats. Rick whispered to Elliot, "I've trusted you so far, but I swear, if this is a trap, I will kill you to protect my family."

Elliot was startled at what Rick just said to him, but responded, "I understand, Rick. It's not a trap."

Instead of using a verbal cues, Daryl just put his hand up to signal them to stop where they were. They all raised their weapons, ready to breach. Daryl, being point man of the group, opened the door and checked the corners of the living room.

The group broke off into Carl and Rick searching upstairs and Michonne and Elliot searching downstairs while Daryl stayed at the front door.

Just after Rick and Carl searched the first of three bedrooms on the upper floor, Rick randomly said, "I am so sorry about what happened at the prison."

Carl was shocked that his dad apologised, but just responded with, "you should be. we can talk about it later."

Rick sighed and responded with, "Okay." And thought for a moment, taking a breath before asking the question. "Do you trust him?" It was Carl that made the call about keeping Michonne around, he constantly seemed to be the best judge of character.

"I don't know yet." Carl walked out of the room, leaving his father to follow.

Meanwhile Elliot and Michonne were searching the kitchen when Michonne said, "You were upset when you and Carl were talking earlier."

Elliot was slightly taken aback, but responded with, "yeah… I was just telling him how I ended up alone. You guys are first group who's actually been "nice" to me once I met them. It's why I tend to avoid people."

Michonne thought about what to say and responded saying, "That was probably a smart decision."

The conversation dropped after that.

Once the rest of the house was searched they all regrouped and Rick said, "This'll do for the night. Two person watch shifts, me and Daryl then Carl and Michonne."

"Anything you'll need tonight, get it now." Rick drawled, exhaustion evident in his voice. "We're all staying here in the living room." He turned to Elliot. "Do you have any weapons in this house we don't know about?"

"There's a crossbow upstairs in the master bedroom, other than that, no." The boy was getting good at answering questions. He could tell Rick was serious about the death threats.

Rick nodded, looking at Michonne, who went to collect the weapon. "I'll be right back." Rick said to Carl, patting him on the shoulder as he limped off towards the bathroom.

Elliot was walking towards the linen closet at the bottom of the stairs when Daryl suddenly said "Hang on a second kid did you say you got a crossbow? Had any training with it?"

Elliot looked down and said "Nope why?"

Daryl responded with "I'm gonna teach you how to use it properly. So you don't kill anyone you don't mean to kill."

"Alright." Elliot nodded, grabbing blankets out of the closet and bringing them back to the centre of the floor.

As everyone was getting settled, Elliot glanced at Carl, who was setting up near Michonne in the corner of the room. Rick and Daryl were already on the front porch, watching for walkers, and Michonne said something to Carl about talking to Rick for a moment.

As Michonne left, Elliot continued to look at the boy across the room, and saw his shirt come up as he peeled the grimy hoodie he was wearing from his body.

Elliot saw the scar on Carl's stomach before he had a chance to replace his shirt, and thought to himself, _"I wonder what that's from. I should see if he will tell me. After all he knows about me, and Michonne said we will get along. But that is if I don't flirt with him. What Rick would think about that? Screw it. Asking about a scar isn't flirting."_

So Elliot said "How'd you get that scar on your stomach?"

Carl just mumbled "Hunting accident can we talk about it later?"

Elliot just said "sure thing man talk soon sleep well."

"Yeah." Carl mumbled back, settling into the blanket as Michonne came back and laid down right beside him.

Daryl just sat on the front porch with Rick, thinking to himself _"looks like I got a kid to train. No harm in having another tracker who's also a samurai."_


	5. Chapter 5

**Hi everyone I'm back again for the second time this week as promised :). Not sure really what to say apart from thanks again to Fallen Angle Awakened for being my beta again and I will hopefully be back soon but College says otherwise xD.**

 **Anyway onto the story enjoy and feel free to review as I enjoy reading peoples thoughts on it feel free to PM me if you have any ideas for how the story can progress :).**

Rick and Daryl didn't really talk during their watch shift, except about Elliot. When Daryl brought it up, Rick was alright with Daryl teaching the teen as long as a close eye was kept on him at all times and as long as they were back by sundown. "Make sure you get back at any cost." Was the last condition Rick gave, to which Daryl nodded.

Once it was time for them to wake Carl and Michonne for their shift, the last thing Rick said to Daryl was, "Remember what I said." Daryl just nodded his head in response then went to sleep in the corner.

During their shift, Michonne randomly asked Carl, "What do you think of Elliot? It seems like he's very willing to open up to you, and seems to trust you."

Carl was caught off guard, and wasn't too sure how to respond but just said, "I'm still not sure about him. He seems alright I guess. My dad wanted to know what I think of him too, but I'm not some amazing judge of character who can just throw my opinions around."

Michonne corrected him and said, "That's where you're wrong. I do believe you were to one who told your dad is was part of this family."

Carl looked away from Michonne and shrugged his shoulders in response. Sure, Elliot seemed like a nice guy, but most things in the post-apocalyptic world were too good to be true a lesson Carl had learned the hard way and would never forget.

Meanwhile, Elliot wasn't asleep and was unintentionally eavesdropping on the conversation between Carl and Michonne. He wasn't shocked by what he'd heard, considering the group had just met him that afternoon, and figured that since there were no negative things being said about him, he could try to get some rest.

When dawn came, Elliot was suddenly awoken by Daryl, and the first thing he heard the rough man say was, "Come on, kid. Get up. We got a long day ahead of us." Considering he had been on his own for so long and hadn't had to get up early unless there was an immediate threat in that time, Elliot's first thought was, " _do I really have to get up?"_ But he then remembered Daryl was going to teach him to use a crossbow and was immediately on his feet. "Rick, if you guys need food I put most of it in the kitchen, but I put a small bag of supplies in every room in case I ever needed to leave in a hurry"

Rick nodded to the teen and said, "Thanks, Elliot."

Once Elliot had gotten ready and grabbed his crossbow, he met Daryl out on the porch. Rick said to them, "Be back by sundown, and be careful."

Elliot reached into his bag and produced a small black box. "Here's a walkie talkie so we can communicate. I only found two of them, and I think they're on a closed frequency, but I'm not sure on the range. They're battery powered, and I found plenty of spares, but I never tested them as I never had a reason to. I have some batteries here, and the spares are in the drawer of the bedside table in the master bedroom."

Elliot looked at Carl, smiled and passed him his katana, swapping it for a hunting knife he found in the house and said, "Look after this until I'm back. I don't need it to hunt. Please be careful with it." He said while hiding the walkie talkie on his hip underneath his shirt.

Carl just said. "Will do. It's safe with me." with that, the duo left so that Daryl could teach Elliot how to track, hunt and use his crossbow properly.

Daryl and Elliot were about an hour's walk from the house they were currently staying at when suddenly, they heard voices around them. Daryl signalled for Elliot to stop and hide until the area was clear. The two hunkered down in a thick bush, barely breathing, but were quickly found and pulled out of their hiding place by a group of men. The first thing that they heard was a man who seemed like the leader-while the rest of the group were pointing their weapons at duo, "Put your hands up, both of you." the leader noticed the crossbows and the bags that Daryl and Elliot were carrying and said "Look what we have hear boys! Two fellas that know how to use bows! What're your names boys? I'm Joe".

Daryl thought about anyway how to get out of the current situation but saw no way at the current time. He could see the fear in Elliot's eyes, so decided to let the men know who they were, but had thought of a way to make Elliot's disability seem worse so it would help, because looking at the current situation, he could tell if he couldn't pass them off as being related one of them could end up dead. So, he flatly said, hiding all emotions, "I'm Daryl", and quickly continued before Elliot could reveal his accent, "that's my son Elliot"

"Can't he talk for himself?" The leader said in a mock chastising tone.

"Nah, he's mute. Somethin' to do with oxygen during pregnancy. Caused the limp too." Daryl had no idea what he was talking about, so he tried to get the explanation done quickly and was slightly nervous when the group of men all started to laugh. One of the men-the fat bearded one-said, "How's a cripple been able to survive all this time? Tell you what", the man took a breath then loudly said in a threatening voice. "CLAIMED on the boy and all he owns".

Joe just looked at him with slight anger and told him, "Now now. Let's hold up a second here, Dan. These fellas look like they could be useful to us yet, after all look at the weapons they carry. They may fit in with us." Joe staring at Elliot just said, "You may be a handicap, but do you know how to hunt and track?"

In order to be able to keep up the illusion that may be the only thing that's keeping him and Daryl breathing, Elliot nodded as he could tell why he needed to keep quiet. He had encountered men like them before, and knew he would need to talk to Daryl about it in private when they get the chance to figure a way out of their predicament.

Joe looked back and Daryl sternly asking him, "So do you and your mute boy here want to join us or not?" Daryl looked around seeing that the hostile groups weapons were still trained on the pair of them. Seeing no other choice for them both to make it out alive and without getting hurt, Daryl just said to the group, "Sure got nowhere better to be."

Eliot just thought to himself, " _I'm so glad that I left my katana with Carl. I'm just hoping they don't ever choose to randomly search us and find the batteries or my walkie talkie. I've got to find a way to communicate with Rick as soon as I can, but not being able to talk around these guys is going to make difficult and we're supposed to be back by sundown. Good thing I'm not one to back down from a challenge."_


End file.
